Invasion or liberation?

I would like to add to the article titled Chinese invasion or liberation of Tibet by Andreas Landwehr in the Oct. 7 edition of The Jakarta Post.

With the Chinese revolution of 1911, the Qing dynasty collapsed. As a successor, the newly founded republic continued to take responsibility for all territories of Qing with the Ministry of Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs which was later renamed in 1928 as the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission. But as a result of the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Guo Min Dang (GMD) and invasions by foreign powers, the central government rarely exercised authority from 1912 to 1949 until the founding of the PRC.

After 1911, Tibet sent representatives to the National People's Congress of the newly founded republic. The Dalai (all embracing) Lama title itself is actually not a Tibetan title but a Mongolian title given by a Mongolian prince to the third successor of the yellow sect in mid-16th century. In fact, it was the Mongolians during the Yuan dynasty (1206-1368) who exercised full sovereignty over Tibet.

There are pockets of Tibetans in the Tibetan plateau of Qinghau, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces but they are mixed inhabited areas of Han, Hui, Mongolian Uyghur, Kazakh, Naxi, Bai etc.

About the Tibetan uprisings and rebellions from the 1950s until the 1960s, it was actually a secret CIA proxy war. It was a war code-named ST Circus. The Newsweek's cover story on Tibet in its April 19, 1999 edition gave a very good account of how CIA helped fund, train and air-drop the Tibetan guerrillas from a secret base in Takhli, Thailand to Tibet. Once, the defense secretary Robert McNamara even personally intervened to persuade the New York Times to spike the story of the training of 300 Tibetans in Camp Hale in Colorado.

The Asian Wall Street Journal of Jan. 13 also reported how the CIA agent, Anthony Pospheny, helped organize the escape of the Dalai Lama from Tibet in 1959. This same CIA agent reportedly also helped foment a failed coup in Indonesia.

The Singapore Strait Times also had an interesting special report on Tibet from Nov. 5 to Nov. 7, 1999. Before 1950, 95 percent of Tibetans worked as slaves or serfs for the remaining 5 percent of monks/aristocrats and officials who would as punishment to the slaves, practice skinning, eye-gorging and smashing of kneecaps.

Now 95.5 percent of the 2.5 million population are Tibetans and Tibetan language and literature are compulsory for ethnic Tibetans. Before 1951, only 2 percent of school-aged children attended schools but now 81 percent are in the elementary schools. There are still 46,000 nuns and monks with 1,700 monasteries. Tibetan officials account for 75 percent of the 68,000 officials there.

In 1959, there were only 460 telephone lines but now there are 149,000. The Tibetan GDP increased 47 folds from 1959 until to date. The average life expectancy has increased from 35.5 years in 1950 to 67 years at present.

Additionally, for all above and in the name of both human and Tibetan dignity, it was a liberation.

SIA KA MOU

sia@centrin.net.id